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MAG supplies eight new five-spindle, five-axis profilers on new designed machine platform.

“We are producing some significant titanium assemblies and sideframe components for the Airbus A350 that require lots of heavy machining, and we expect these machines to fill a big role in reaching our contracted ramp-up rates,” said ADI President and CEO John Cave in a September 12 press release from MAG. To help meet these requirements, MAG delivered eight of its XTi five-spindle, f-axis profilers. These eight machines will increase ADI’s titanium machining capacity by approximately 40 percent.

The new 5-axis gantry design uses the same high-stiffness frame as the MAG three-axis XTi. Cave described the machine’s setup as easier and accuracy will be on par with the previous three-axis design. He also stated that the rotary axes on each spindle can be independently calibrated and controlled to enhance accuracy and simplify setup. In three-axis roughing operations, the rotary axes can be automatically locked for additional control over the final machining setup.

The press release stated that eight individually controlled gantries will be mounted groups of four gantries. Each group will each be mounted on two pairs of 91.4 m (300 ft) X-axis rails. The gantries span a 6 m (20 ft) Y-axis, with a Z-axis depth of 711 mm (28 in). The work envelope between each pair of rails will total 1,300 m2 (14,000 sq ft). Each spindle’s angular A and B axes can travel ±30 degrees, with accuracy ensured by digital scale feedback. For ADI’s application, the machines are equipped with 52-kW (70 hp), 7,000-rpm spindles, and each spindle can deliver up to 1,345 Nm (986 ft lb) of torque into the cut at 40-7,000 rpm. The standard XTi spindle is normally rated 51 kW (68 hp), 3,500-rpm, and produces 2,523 Nm (1860 ft lb) torque, according to the press release.